Food security

"I can responsibly say that China's food security is ensured as grain production has registered increases for nine successive years owing to favorable government policies and farmers' high activity. Grain stockpiles increased while grain prices are stable," Han Changfu, minister of agriculture, said at a news conference recently.

He added that China's grain output stood at 589.55 billion kg in 2012 and grain output per capita reached 435 kg, higher than the international criteria for grain security, which is 400 kg per capita.

Vice-Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua said at the news conference that China's grain self-sufficiency rate is 98 percent in 2012, higher than the government's target of 95 percent.

"I totally don't agree with the ratio as China's total grain imports reached 75 billion kg last year and accounted for 12 or 13 percent of the country's total grain output. Therefore, China's grain self-sufficiency rate is 87 or 88 percent," said Wang Yunlong from the NPC Standing Committee.

The calculation did not include soybean imports, which was 58.38 million metric tons in 2012, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Wang said soybeans have long been listed as a grain in China and should not be excluded in the ratio calculation just because they are mainly used for extracting oil.

"If we imported no soybeans, 400 or 500 million mu (about 27 to 33 million hectares) of farmland would have to be used for planting soybeans and would reduce grain output by 200 billion kg," he said.